After the briefing, the two operatives, Felix and Maria readied their gear. With briefcase in hand, they stepped outside to the wide blue skies. A gust of winded greeted them from the black jet parked and waiting for their arrival.

They settled into their blue leather seats across from one another, without saying a word.

With hours still left before they could reach their destination, the silence stretched. Felix opened his briefcase and examined his gear. Inside was a radio, firearms and ammunition, documents, a data storage device and other tools.

He pulled out a box-shaped firearm, cobalt in color, with a deep blue grid like pattern on the top, and began to inspect it.

Maria saw her reflection in the weapon’s sleek blue sheen, and with an awkward expression, broke the silence, “Soooo, anything on your mind?”

“I’m thinking of how to infiltrate the building. According to this, there’s only one entrance, so getting in is going to be tricky—” He responded blankly, still focused on the weapon.

“That’s not what I meant.”

“Ah, then what?” Felix awkwardly smiled.

“I was thinking more like... talking about things other than the mission.”

“Oh, why?”

“Like the chief said, we should get to know each other. Build trust, y’know?”

“Um…” Clueless and put on the spot, he placed the cobalt-colored gun atop a black case and put his thumb against his chin.

“Oh god, what have they done to you?” She blurted out.

“I’ve never really done this before, so this is all rather new to me.”

“That’s not inspiring confidence in me.”

“Don’t worry. Rest assured; I’ll protect you.” Felix answered.

A sudden ding sounded, grabbing both of their attention. A flight attendant approached, holding a pen and paper in hand.

With a polite smile, she asked, “Mister Aster, Miss Readman, what would you like today?”

“Mimosa!” Maria spoke with excitement.

“Coffee, two creams, three sugars.” He said.

“Understood, your orders will arrive momentarily.” The attendant responded with a polite smile before leaving.

“Being intoxicated isn’t good for the mission.” Felix scolded.

“Nah, it’ll be fine. We’ve got a few hours.” She dismissively waved it off, only for her to point her finger at him, “As for you, that’s your third cup of coffee in the past hour.”

“Fourth, actually.” .

“I know you’re ‘superhuman’, but isn’t that a taaad bit too much?”

“Maybe, but since we’re not exactly normal people anymore…” Felix gulped down the last bit from his cup.

“…I don’t know how to respond to that.” She twiddled her fingers. “Curious though, how does it feel having powers?”

He raised his eyebrows and asked, “You can’t use it?”

“I was told that the powers and the glowing eyes come at stage two, and well after undergoing the first stage… I’m not sure I’m willing to risk it.” She snickered with dull, dead eyes.

“Ah, yeah. I understand. For me it was... it was like…” Felix looked down and recollected his own hazy experience.

His brow furrowed as he pinched at his forehead. Nothing was coming back to him, nothing specific.

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

As he tried to piece together his foggy memories, fragments came flooding back.

Only vague recollections of a darkness, sitting behind iron-bars. Then a spherical flame, a burning gold shaped like star, and a fire that surrounded him. Then a severed hand covered in rubble, reaching for the sky, as shafts of sunlight pierced through sifting dust and crumbling, gray ruins.

Then, Professor Tetsuya’s bleeding face of despair.

“Are… you okay?” Maria’s voice pulled him back to the present.

Her palm was on his shoulder. Felix looked up with a bead of sweat rolling down his cheek, his eyes met with Maria’s concerned gaze. Her irises were pitch black.

“Ah, yeah... It’s... I want to tell you, but it’s difficult to explain…” He gazed at his hand, hoping for something to happen. But looking at his empty palm was all she needed, and understood immediately.

“Ah… I see.” She said in a way that sounded like an apology. As she took her hand on his shoulder, she sat back down.

“Yeah… unfortunately, we’re in the same boat at the moment.” He lamented.

“I’m sure you’ll figure it out eventually.” She beamed, “Anyway, since you like coffee so much, let’s start there... any reason for the two creams and three sugars? Is it just the taste?” Her lips stretched slightly while her eyebrows curled.

The young man tilted his head for a moment and answered, “Mhm, it’s how my mentor used to make it. Guess it just stuck.”

“Hoh?” Her curiosity piqued, “Must’ve been something you picked up from him.”

“Her, actually. It’s probably the first thing she taught me.”

“I see, so are you two close?”

“Yeah, we— were...” For a brief moment, his eyes light up before solemnly lowering his head.

“Were? Oh…oh, sorry. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to…” She replied, twiddling with her fingers.

“It’s fine… it’s been a few years so I’ve moved past it.”

“I see…moving along, what else can we talk about?” Her head tilted her head towards the ceiling. It was difficult for her to find something to talk about.

He looked down to the table and asked, “Um…Do you like coffee?”

“I don’t dislike it… what about you, anything you like?”

“Coff—”

“Other than coffee, I mean?” She quickly dismissed.

Felix went silent and pressed his thumb against his chin as he thought deeply.

Maria’s expression turned to stale annoyance, “We’re not making any progress… When I heard that I was going to work with the ‘Child of Stars’. I felt a little excited, but now…”

He pouted, “Well excuse me for disappointing you. I’m trying, okay? Also don’t call me that.”

“Sorry, it’s just… I wanted to see someone who was irreplaceable.” She looked to the side, staring distantly.

With an eyebrow raised, he asked, “…Define irreplaceable?”

“You and I… err, well, how do I put this…Someone at the top, I guess.”

“At the top, huh? I’m not even in the top ten yet.”

“Speaking of, chief mentioned that you wanted to be the rank one. Why’s that?”

He grinned and replied, “It’s only natural for the strongest to want to be number one, right?”

“… In our line of work, where we risk our lives on a regular basis? I don’t think that’s it. Come on, tell me the real reason.”

Felix scratched his cheek and answered, “Tell you what, if we make it out of this alive, I’ll give you the answer.”

“I guess I could wait a couple hours… but thinking that the Black Cat of Ruin becoming ranked anything other than thirteenth would feel out of place.” Maria tilted her head with a playful smirk.

“Again, that’s not my official codename.”

“Thirteenth ranked in the leaderboard of the alliance of the twelve organizations…” She spoke slowly, as if she was confirming it to herself. “If I’m not mistaken, you were put into the top twenty, not because of your proficiency, but because of your potential.”

“How do you know that?”

“Chief did say you’ve only dealt with simulation battles so far. The more merits you raked in, the higher your rank, right?”

“Yeah, what about it?”

“It probably makes the people who accomplished so much very angry that you’re in such a privileged position.”

Felix paused for a moment and placed his face on his palm, “Regardless, I don’t think me being the thirteenth strongest person in the world is so far-fetched.” He shrugged and sarcastically boasted.

“Maybe if you’ve only lived in the twelve agencies’ small world. The world is a big place, full of monsters with machines in their veins, and exoskeletons on their bodies, and other tools made to kill. There’re dangerous people out there.”

“You mean like the Jackal?”

Maria lowered her head and spoke with a frigid chuckle, “Mhm, I guess but… what makes you think that a terrorist is the most dangerous person out there?”

A cold chill crawled down his back as she uttered those words.

Nervously, Felix muttered out word by word, “He’s probably not… But he should definitely be taken care of soon.”

“Mhm, he really should.” She showed a poppy smile before glancing to the side with a satisfied expression.

There was suddenly a suffocating tension in the air.

I only noticed this now, but her eyes are almost pitch-black. Unnaturally so. They clearly shined, but they were glassy. Like the way they reflected light was artificial. The darkness within them were like long stretches of abyss that did not appear to end.

The attendant returned with both drinks in a tray, “Mister Aster, Miss Readman, your drinks.”

“Thanks!”

“Th-thank you…”

After placing the drinks on their table, the flight attendant left as soon as she came, and a feeling of discomfort lingered in the air.

“Sorry, I just let my thoughts slip out, forget I said that!” She recklessly tried to make the unpleasant atmosphere fade with an awkward smile. “Too much spaghetti spilled.”

A persistent silence lingered between the two for the rest of the trip. Maria returned to staring out the window, Felix, no longer knowing how to pursue the conversation, finished his coffee and resumed looking over his equipment.

Irreplaceable, huh?

After looking through the documents one last time, Felix leaned against his chair, and closed his eyes, waiting for the feeling of unease to fade.

~